In Search of Islamic Fascism

This week the right-wing is trying to promote "Islamic-Fascism Awareness Week" on college campuses and in the United States more generally.

But they're not doing a very good job. I first read about "Islamic-Fascism Awareness Week" on the left-wing blog Talking Points Memo. And it wasn't until today (Thursday) that I read about it in a conservative source--Ann Coulter's column.

But Coulter doesn't identify what she means by Islamo-Fascism because she's too eager to refer to liberals as fascists.

Evidently, the fingers she uses to type "traitor" were worn out and she had to switch to fascist to avoid "repetition" injuries like carpal tunnel.

But really, who are the Islamo-Fascists? And who are their main friends and allies? Of course, the Big Cheeses of Islamo-Fascism are Osama bin Laden and the Taliban leadership. And bin Laden and the Taliban have certain fascist qualities about them--their reliance on leadership charism as the focus of group loyalty, focus on Islamic purity, focus on the modern West as "the decadent "other," and expansionist aim of establishing a global caliphate.

But the purveyors of the "Islamo-Fascist" concept want to incorporate Iran, the Hezbollah movement in Lebanon, and the Hamas movement in the Palestinian territories as elements in a tidal wave of "Islamo-Fascism" that threatens to engulf the world, force us all to become Muslims, and drape "our women" in burkas.

In fact, the prime thrust of "Islamo-Fascist Awareness Week" is to convince people that American women are "that close" to adapting the burka as their primary fasion statement.

Let me count some of the ways in which this is nonsense.

It should be mentioned that neither the Iranians, Hezbollah, or Hamas are allied with bin Laden or likely to become involved with bin Laden in the future. Moreover, none of these parties either have global terrorist ambitions or have taken global terrorist initiatives. Finally, the Iranians, Hezbollah, and Hamas are all much more involved in democracy than our allies in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, or Jordan.

In other words, there is no Islamo-Fascist Movement outside al-Qaeda in Pakistan, al-Qaeda in Iraq, and the al-Qaeda cells operating in various countries. Likewise, al-Qaeda in Iraq and the various al-Qaeda cells in other countries owe at least 90% of their interest and success to the blundering stupidity of the Bush administration. Instead of bin Laden drawing them to al-Qaeda and global terrorism, the Bush administration pushes them in that direction. Bin Laden may be their role model, but President Bush is their best friend and most powerful source of recruitment.

What threat is posed by al-Qaeda and the various al-Qaeda cells?

Al-Qaeda outlets are capable of launching terrorist attacks, but they are real threats in only two places--Afghanistan and Pakistan. The situation is especially dangerous in Pakistan where people who are committed to global terrorism are spread throughout the Pakistani military and intelligence apparatus. If al-Qaeda succeeded in overthrowing the Pakistani government and establishing a Taliban regime in Pakistan, that would be a genuine threat.

Otherwise, al-Qaeda isn't much of a threat. It seems that all the organization around bin Laden is capable of is maintaining correspondence with Iraq and producing an occasional video.

Not exactly impressive.

And that's why my wife, daughters, woman colleagues, and female students aren't buying any burkas despite all the effort going into "Islamo-Fascist Awareness Week."